Bergen, Norway

            We had two days in Bergen and the first was for sight seeing in the town. Bergen has a population similar to Savannah’s and it lies right on the western coast of Norway. It’s important as a port city and is over one thousand years old. According to the history of the city, they seem to have had problems with fires breaking out. There were fires that destroyed much or all of the city in 1198, 1248, 1413, 1428, 1429, 1455, 1476, 1582, 1675, 1702, 1751, 1756, 1771, 1902, 1916, and 1955. I think it goes without saying that that is a lot of fire. Nevertheless, they rebuilt every time and the city maintains a charm about it. There is a row of old houses called the Hanseatic buildings that serve as tourists shops, restaurants, and night clubs and have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Site. They are in the first picture you see. We started our walk there and headed to the Bergenhus, which is a fortress near the top edge of the small peninsula that juts out into the Byfjorden. (more info of the Fortress). We walked around the area but all of the buildings were closed off to visitors. From there, we headed back towards some of the older buildings in the UNESCO site and wound our way through them. The architecture is really nice and the colors on the buildings are quite bold.

           We popped into a local grocery store to purchase some rations for the day as the prices of food are high and the guy from the night before told us that we shouldn’t be surprised to see Norwegians pulling a sandwich out of their pocket. So we decided to do as the locals do and get some food for the day. We ate some early lunch and walked back to the harbor area and onto the other side. We collected our tickets for the fjord cruise and headed on to the end of the other peninsula. We found a nice park with a huge totem poll there so we sat and enjoyed the view of the bay and the other areas around Bergen. From there, we headed to an older part of the town with older houses, narrow streets, and steep hills. We eventually ended up at the square with several museums and the St. John’s Church. We couldn’t go in the church because it is only open for a couple of hours each day around lunchtime. We ended up going into the Maritime Museum because it was free for students. They had a large collection of models of boats that were used in the area in and around Bergen. They had a couple of small models of the old Norse Viking ships but the real ones are in Oslo. After that, we headed towards the little lake in the middle of town near the Kunstmuseum. There was a nice gazebo with tons of flowers and a really creepy guy taking pictures of a creepy girl there. We walked down to the lake and sat for a while because of the all the walking. We decided not to worry with the museum and headed back to the hostel for a nap.

          While there, we met a guy who also lived in Savannah. He worked as a lobbyist in D.C. for the area but was soon going to be moving to D.C. permanently. We all met up with our friends and headed to a typical Bergen restaurant for some Norwegian fare. One person ordered reindeer, another had dried and salted cod and another salmon. It was all quite tasty and pricey but our hostel friend had a Bergen card so we all got a 15% discount on our meal. After dinner, we had a stroll to help start the digestion process towards the fortress because our friends had not seen it yet. The gate had already closed so we couldn’t walk around the grounds so we decided to go for a beer, an idea that caused us much pain. In Norway, the taxes are so outrageous on goods that a beer we pay $3 or $4 in a bar costs $11. So we had to decide whether or not we wanted to spend money on one beer for what we could get 12 back home. We split a beer for $10 at a bar and called it a night. It was fun to see our friend Jarrod in Bergen and hopefully when we get back to Savannah one day, we can actually hang out there together and not just thousands of miles from home. Enjoy the pictures.

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